Bekkah is a college sophomore and is the primary driver on her parent’s old car. Bekkah knows little about maintaining her car. When she visits home over the holidays and between semesters, her dad takes the car for routine maintenance…what this entails is completely lost to her. One day while driving, Bekkah notices that her car is sounding differently, but doesn’t realize that might indicate a potential problem. While at school, the car breaks down, and Bekkah doesn’t know who to call for help. Her dad is 3 hours away, and she doesn’t know anyone in the area. After calling friends and looking online, she finds a tow-truck and gets her car towed to a nearby garage that she knows nothing about.
Target Audience
Our target audience is made up of drivers that do not own a new or certified used car and do not have a clear set car maintenance habits. We’re focusing on a younger demographic of drivers with access to technology, at the least access to a computer with the Internet. Preferably, these users would also have the capability to receive SMS messages or have some sort of smart device (phone, iPod, etc). Although our preferred users will tend to be students or young people, our application should also be beneficial to people with lower income as well as people new to an auto-driven culture.
Currently, our users do not think of car maintenance until their car breaks down or starts making funny noises.
With AutoMindr, eventually these users will:
Be empowered to go to seek out a mechanic/service center before a major breakdown in their vehicle
Develop a general sense of the health of their vehicle almost as second nature
Have a lower level of frustration when searching for a service center or mechanic.
Summary of Users
Currently we’ve discerned 3 main types of people when it comes to car maintenance habits.
Novice Users
This is the group we’re looking to help. The level of car maintenance habits, and car knowledge in this group is minimal. This group has not reached that level of ‘car Nirvana’ that we have observed in the above groups. Our observations indicate that there is not a close tie between them and a service center. There is almost always at least one degree of separation between these novices and a service center. We have deemed that this last group, our Novices, are in the most need of assistance, so we have decided to target them with our AutoMindr system. Our research gave way to some interesting demographic information from this group
Many are in college
Women stated a strong interest in a reminder system geared towards novices
They know next to nothing about their car
Minimal maintenance habits
Most maintenance habits are carried out by another person
Oblivious to potential warning signs to problems
First sign of a problem is when she’s on the side of the road
No knowledge of where to go for car help
Proficient
This group of drivers have reached a level of car maintenance in which they are self-proficient. They know where they take their car to get repairs (if they don’t perform small tasks such as oil changes themselves), and they have a general awareness of the current condition of their car.
Advanced
This is the group of people that maintain their vehicle very well…the process is actually enjoyable to some in this group. They keep logs of maintenance benchmarks, and cars hold a very prominent spot in their day to day life. This includes cars as a hobby, or part of their vocation.
In versions of AutoMindr beyond 1.0, we would like to concentrate on our advanced (and auto professional) users. For example, with AutoMindr Pro, we could offer these users expert tools such as a gas log and generate data tables and summary graphs. We would also have the potential to use these users as content developers.
Our Research on User Categories
We noticed in our research that there was at least one degree of separation between a novice user and a service center. They either had a contact with an advanced user, expert user, or no-one at all. If we dug deeper, there would be more connections at the 2nd or 3rd degree of separation, which isn’t good enough. Users that did have a connection with a service center were more confident in their car maintenance, and it seemed they took better care of their car in general.
Figure 01: Degrees of Separation
In our research, there seemed to be a correlation between how many degrees of separation there were between a driver and a trusted Mechanic or Service center (or confidence about finding one), and how well that driver kept track of their vehicle's health and maintenance at a routine level.
Our expert drivers (active in the knowledge of and maintenance of their car's health, expert knowledge of cars) had a direct tie with a trusted mechanic.
All Proficient users we talked to (natural, but passive awareness of their car's health and maintenance, adequate knowledge of cars) had at most one degree of separation between themselves and a service center.
There was an interesting anomaly with our novice users (no knowledge of car's health, and little knowledge of cars in general). There was at least one degree of separation between them and a mechanic, meaning they depended on other persons to direct them to a trustworthy repair center/person. Other novices didn't have a go-to path to a Repair Center at all.
If we dug deeper, there would be more connections between Novices and Service Centers at the 2nd or 3rd degrees of separation, but this isn’t acceptable.
Users that did have a connection with a service center were more confident in their car maintenance, and it seemed they took better care of their car in general.
In this graphic, the Novice Users in red are those with more than a single degree of separation between a Service Center/Mechanic. These are the 'problem patients' we are trying to help the most. They are the most powerless and marginalized. The colors for the paths don't matter much beyond visible distinction between Service Center and User.
The Expert with two prongs resulted from one Novice and one Proficient user indicating their parents (Expert Users) as their connection to a Service Center…for simplicity's sake, we condensed the two references into one type seeing as the Expert in both cases was a parent.
Bekkah After AutoMindr
Typical users, like Bekkah, should have the following transformed behaviors after participating in AutoMindr:
Proficient about routine maintenance
Know reliable places to take the vehicle for routine and emergency maintenance
Have a second nature knowledge of the car’s health
Recognize potential problems early
Have a network of knowledgeable ‘car people’
Bekkah signs up for AutoMindr. Over the next few weeks AutoMindr intermittently prompts Bekkah through her cell phone to provide information like her current mileage and VIN number. The prompts are short, friendly, and ask Bekkah information in a way she can understand. Because the prompts happen at convenient times and places, Bekkah can easily interact with the system, and she begins to learn more about her car. With AutoMindr’s online site, she learns of a nearby shop that was given good ratings and is even used by a few of her friends. When AutoMindr prompts Bekkah that she might need an oil change soon, rather than waiting the month for semester break, Bekkah feels confident enough to get the oil changed herself. Later on in the week, AutoMindr ask Bekkah if she knows how to check her tire tread when she pulls into the parking lot of her apartment complex. Bekkah replies that she doesn’t and is presented with a tutorial for checking her tire tread. As she follows the tutorial, Bekkah notices the wear on the tires is uneven, and when she sees her dad during the semester break, she mentions it to him and he gets her tires rotated for her. One day, Bekkah notices a strange smell. She queries AutoMindr online when she gets back to her house and realizes the smell could indicate a problem. She makes an appointment with the same mechanic she used to get her oil changed and takes it in that Saturday. The mechanic tells her that she was smart to bring it in now to avoid a more costly fix, which was looming before she brought the car into the shop.
Preliminary Research
Existing Technologies
As part of our research, we looked at several existing services and technologies related to how we see AutoMindr. One of the most effective technologies that are used today is the ‘Oil Change Sticker’ that mechanics put in the corner of windshields. They seem to be very effective, but their scope is limited. They only focus on oil changes, and the sticker itself is a very passive form of reminding. With AutoMindr, we want to take this a step further almost to a point of teaching our users and instilling ‘good’ car maintenance habits.
There are also existing technologies centered around reminding drivers to perform scheduled maintenance. There are several problems with these services:
A couple instances we’ve observed are reminders generated from dealers and manufacturers. The problem is that this type of service requires users to buy into it by purchasing a new or certified used car. Even if you do have a vehicle covered in this instance, the recipient of these notifications may not be the primary driver.
The second problem here is that these reminders are not timely. The reminders usually take the form of emails or SMS messages, but the reminders seem to reach users at a time when they are not thinking about their car. If a user is getting an email about getting an oil change, it’s very likely that they are not in their car and not thinking about car maintenance.
Competitive Review
There are also several web sites offering services similar to AutoMindr. These sites, however, seem to be geared towards a more advanced user and people that already know how to empower themselves with knowledge. The users of this site already know when they need help and what to search for to find it.
ownersite.com
ecarlog.com
carcarecity.com
cartalk.com
Manufacturer /Dealer Plan
Oil Change Sticker
Free?
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No, only available if you bought a new or certified used car.
No, need to have purchased oil-change from a service center.
Information Portal?
Has a few articles on maintenance tips.
No
No
Yes
No
No
Reminder System?
Yes, Email
Yes, Email
Yes, Email
No
Yes, Email and updates from dealer's service employees.
Yes, whenever you look at sticker.
Reminds during auto-centered activities?
No
No
No
N/A (there is an iPod/iPhone app though)
No, though there is option to get help through On-Star (GM)
Yes
Requires dedicated activity time to use?
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
Helps choose Service Center?
No
No
No
Yes
Sort of, it points you to the dealer.
Sort of, the sticker comes from where you got service work, so it helps you return.
Appropriate for Novice?
Audience appears to be geared towards business owners. There is a large section regarding financial tracking. There is fleet pricing. Slogan is "Driving is your passion. Detail is ours." Clearly, the site was designed for the expert user.
No.Empasis is on logging information.
No. To set up reminders, you have to feed it information based on the manual including oil type like 10W30.
Sort of. Right on the front page is a nice feature to installing chat with a mechanic. It also helps you find service centers. It is also appropriate for the adventurous novice. The DIY articles are geared towards those with little or no experience. There is a nice DIY matrix to help evalate if a project matches your skill and comfort levels.
No. Our target novice users are not shopping for new cars, but wants to maintain the cars they already own.
Meet Bekkah Before AutoMindr
Bekkah is a college sophomore and is the primary driver on her parent’s old car. Bekkah knows little about maintaining her car. When she visits home over the holidays and between semesters, her dad takes the car for routine maintenance…what this entails is completely lost to her. One day while driving, Bekkah notices that her car is sounding differently, but doesn’t realize that might indicate a potential problem. While at school, the car breaks down, and Bekkah doesn’t know who to call for help. Her dad is 3 hours away, and she doesn’t know anyone in the area. After calling friends and looking online, she finds a tow-truck and gets her car towed to a nearby garage that she knows nothing about.Target Audience
Our target audience is made up of drivers that do not own a new or certified used car and do not have a clear set car maintenance habits. We’re focusing on a younger demographic of drivers with access to technology, at the least access to a computer with the Internet. Preferably, these users would also have the capability to receive SMS messages or have some sort of smart device (phone, iPod, etc). Although our preferred users will tend to be students or young people, our application should also be beneficial to people with lower income as well as people new to an auto-driven culture.Currently, our users do not think of car maintenance until their car breaks down or starts making funny noises.
With AutoMindr, eventually these users will:
Summary of Users
Currently we’ve discerned 3 main types of people when it comes to car maintenance habits.Novice Users
This is the group we’re looking to help. The level of car maintenance habits, and car knowledge in this group is minimal. This group has not reached that level of ‘car Nirvana’ that we have observed in the above groups. Our observations indicate that there is not a close tie between them and a service center. There is almost always at least one degree of separation between these novices and a service center. We have deemed that this last group, our Novices, are in the most need of assistance, so we have decided to target them with our AutoMindr system. Our research gave way to some interesting demographic information from this groupProficient
This group of drivers have reached a level of car maintenance in which they are self-proficient. They know where they take their car to get repairs (if they don’t perform small tasks such as oil changes themselves), and they have a general awareness of the current condition of their car.Advanced
This is the group of people that maintain their vehicle very well…the process is actually enjoyable to some in this group. They keep logs of maintenance benchmarks, and cars hold a very prominent spot in their day to day life. This includes cars as a hobby, or part of their vocation.In versions of AutoMindr beyond 1.0, we would like to concentrate on our advanced (and auto professional) users. For example, with AutoMindr Pro, we could offer these users expert tools such as a gas log and generate data tables and summary graphs. We would also have the potential to use these users as content developers.
Our Research on User Categories
We noticed in our research that there was at least one degree of separation between a novice user and a service center. They either had a contact with an advanced user, expert user, or no-one at all. If we dug deeper, there would be more connections at the 2nd or 3rd degree of separation, which isn’t good enough. Users that did have a connection with a service center were more confident in their car maintenance, and it seemed they took better care of their car in general.Figure 01: Degrees of Separation
In our research, there seemed to be a correlation between how many degrees of separation there were between a driver and a trusted Mechanic or Service center (or confidence about finding one), and how well that driver kept track of their vehicle's health and maintenance at a routine level.
If we dug deeper, there would be more connections between Novices and Service Centers at the 2nd or 3rd degrees of separation, but this isn’t acceptable.
Users that did have a connection with a service center were more confident in their car maintenance, and it seemed they took better care of their car in general.
In this graphic, the Novice Users in red are those with more than a single degree of separation between a Service Center/Mechanic. These are the 'problem patients' we are trying to help the most. They are the most powerless and marginalized. The colors for the paths don't matter much beyond visible distinction between Service Center and User.
The Expert with two prongs resulted from one Novice and one Proficient user indicating their parents (Expert Users) as their connection to a Service Center…for simplicity's sake, we condensed the two references into one type seeing as the Expert in both cases was a parent.
Bekkah After AutoMindr
Typical users, like Bekkah, should have the following transformed behaviors after participating in AutoMindr:- Proficient about routine maintenance
- Know reliable places to take the vehicle for routine and emergency maintenance
- Have a second nature knowledge of the car’s health
- Recognize potential problems early
- Have a network of knowledgeable ‘car people’
Bekkah signs up for AutoMindr. Over the next few weeks AutoMindr intermittently prompts Bekkah through her cell phone to provide information like her current mileage and VIN number. The prompts are short, friendly, and ask Bekkah information in a way she can understand. Because the prompts happen at convenient times and places, Bekkah can easily interact with the system, and she begins to learn more about her car. With AutoMindr’s online site, she learns of a nearby shop that was given good ratings and is even used by a few of her friends. When AutoMindr prompts Bekkah that she might need an oil change soon, rather than waiting the month for semester break, Bekkah feels confident enough to get the oil changed herself. Later on in the week, AutoMindr ask Bekkah if she knows how to check her tire tread when she pulls into the parking lot of her apartment complex. Bekkah replies that she doesn’t and is presented with a tutorial for checking her tire tread. As she follows the tutorial, Bekkah notices the wear on the tires is uneven, and when she sees her dad during the semester break, she mentions it to him and he gets her tires rotated for her. One day, Bekkah notices a strange smell. She queries AutoMindr online when she gets back to her house and realizes the smell could indicate a problem. She makes an appointment with the same mechanic she used to get her oil changed and takes it in that Saturday. The mechanic tells her that she was smart to bring it in now to avoid a more costly fix, which was looming before she brought the car into the shop.Preliminary Research
Existing Technologies
As part of our research, we looked at several existing services and technologies related to how we see AutoMindr. One of the most effective technologies that are used today is the ‘Oil Change Sticker’ that mechanics put in the corner of windshields. They seem to be very effective, but their scope is limited. They only focus on oil changes, and the sticker itself is a very passive form of reminding. With AutoMindr, we want to take this a step further almost to a point of teaching our users and instilling ‘good’ car maintenance habits.There are also existing technologies centered around reminding drivers to perform scheduled maintenance. There are several problems with these services:
Competitive Review
There are also several web sites offering services similar to AutoMindr. These sites, however, seem to be geared towards a more advanced user and people that already know how to empower themselves with knowledge. The users of this site already know when they need help and what to search for to find it.